Plan roundly blasted at FERC meeting
Daniel Fowler, Herald News Staff Reporter,
9/9/2004
SWANSEA -- On Wednesday
Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. and pair of consultants retained
by Fall River dominated the first of two public hearings that
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is holding on Hess LNG's
proposal to construct a liquefied natural gas facility in Fall
River.
Several hundred people attended the hearing at the Venus de Milo
restaurant which the FERC held specifically to provide the public
with an opportunity to comment on the draft environmental impact
statement the commission released on Hess LNG's proposal.
"There couldn't be a more harebrained plan than to put an
LNG facility" at the former Shell Oil Site off North Main
Street, Lambert said in his testimony. "In this post-9/11
world, this project and proposal makes no sense. What a terrible
mistake this country would be making if we invite targets for
terrorists to attack."
While Rich McGuire of FERC,
who moderated the event, asked for each speaker to take a maximum
of five minutes the trio of Lambert, Carol Wasserman of the ESS
Group and Jerry Havens, a chemical engineering professor from
the University of Arkansas, spoke for a total of about 30 minutes.
"You'll have to find the biggest bouncer in the world to
take me out before we finish this presentation," Lambert
told McGuire.
In his comments, Havens, who according to Lambert helped create
the FERC's exclusion zone standards, said the draft statement
contained erroneous calculations, such that if there were an
LNG leak at the site of the proposed facility, Hess LNG's exclusion
zone would not be large enough. Lambert said a potential leak
could extend 2,800 feet beyond what Hess LNG calculated, meaning
that city residents could be at risk -- people live within 1,200
feet of the proposed facility. "The man that helped write
the regulations is telling them (the calculations are) wrong,"
Lambert said. The mayor concluded the city's presentation by
asking the FERC to "please do the right thing." "There
is no price tag you can put on public safety," Lambert said.
"I know that life is full of risks, but it's foolish to
invite them."
State Rep. Robert Correia, D-Fall River, reminded FERC that both the Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives had unanimously approved resolutions to oppose Hess LNG's facility. "There are 40 senators and 160 representatives who therefore represent six million constituents who are concerned that this is the wrong setting," Correia said. "Whatever decision you make, we are going to have to live with it for the rest of our lives," he added.
Somerset Fire Chief Stephen Rivard told FERC that area fire departments did not have the ability to fight an LNG fire on an LNG tanker or at the proposed facility. "We do not have the resources to address an incident here," Rivard said.
At press time, each of the
roughly 10 people who spoke at hearing made comments against
the proposed facility and McGuire said there were dozens more
people who had signed up to speak.
Besides representatives from FERC, representatives from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard and Massachusetts
Office of Environmental Affairs listened to the testimony, because
they all play roles in the siting process.
The FERC will conduct its second public hearing on the project
today at 7 p.m. at the Gaudet Middle School, 1113 Aquidneck Ave.,
Middletown, R.I.